Google and Amazon Reports Show AI Load Outrunning Clean Power
· TexaHub · AI in Industry, Technology Trends, Risks & Opportunities
Google's electricity demand rose 37% in 2025 and both firms' emissions climbed, as permitting risk and grid delays slow the clean supply meant to match AI growth.
What the reports show
Google's 2026 Environmental Report, covering 2025, describes the year as its "largest load growth in history", a 37% annual increase in electricity demand [1]. The company says it still matched 100% of its electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases on a global, annual basis for the ninth consecutive year, and that its operational emissions fell 2% year on year [1]. Its headline "ambition-based" carbon footprint was approximately 14.5 million tCO2e in 2025 [1].
The broader picture is less favourable. TechCrunch, reviewing Google's report alongside Amazon's 2025 sustainability report, reported that Google's total carbon emissions are up 25% on the previous year and Amazon's are up 16% [2]. The two figures are not directly comparable with Google's ambition-based metric, which the company derives from GHG Protocol-aligned emissions using its own boundaries [1]. Amazon, for its part, said: "To meet strong customer demand, in 2025 we added more data center capacity globally than any other company", and TechCrunch reported that it added more than 1.2 gigawatts of data-centre capacity in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone [2].
Where the emissions come from
Most of the growth sits outside the companies' own power bills. TechCrunch notes that the bulk of both firms' rising footprints comes from Scope 3 emissions, and that Google's Scope 3 emissions rose by 2.1 million metric tons last year, to double their 2019 level [2]. Google attributes approximately 2.3 million tCO2e, or 20% of its ambition-based Scope 3 emissions, to data-centre construction in 2025, and says it expects a near-term increase in emissions from that source [1]. Chips made in fossil-fuelled Asian fabs and the steel and cement in new buildings are the main contributors identified by TechCrunch [2].
On-site fuel use is also rising. Google reports that its Scope 1 emissions increased by 20% compared with 2024, primarily because of fuel consumed by backup generators, although Scope 1 remains less than 1% of its footprint [1]. Google's own summary of the tension is direct: its AI infrastructure build-out "is currently accelerating faster than the grid is decarbonizing" [1].
Clean supply is the bottleneck
On procurement, Google reports progress: it says it signed agreements for over 12 GW of net-new clean energy in 2025 [1]. The difficulty is delivery: the report warns that grid constraints and long interconnection timelines create a lag between signing a power purchase agreement and clean power reaching the grid, which could lower its hourly carbon-free energy percentage even as procurement continues [1]. Google puts its 2025 global average at approximately 65% carbon-free energy on an hourly basis [1]. Regulators have started to act on the connection side: on 18 June FERC ordered PJM, MISO, SPP, CAISO, ISO-NE and NYISO to justify or reform their rules for connecting large loads and co-located generation, with answers due by 17 August [8].
Permitting is adding to that risk. On 29 June Wood Mackenzie estimated that more than $121 billion of US renewable investment and 92 GW of projects are exposed to heightened federal permitting scrutiny, comprising 12 GW on federal land and 80 GW on private land, on top of 7 GW already affected on federal land in 2025 [3]. The firm said 62% of the wind pipeline, 30% of solar and more than 25% of planned storage capacity are at risk [3]. TechCrunch noted that solar, batteries and wind made up nearly 90% of new US generating capacity in 2025, a year in which a record 53 GW was added [4].
Firm clean power will not close the gap soon. A Carnegie Endowment analysis in June estimated that announced hyperscaler nuclear agreements could provide up to 13 GW, less than 20% of projected US data-centre demand through 2035 [5]. Meta's January agreements with Oklo, Vistra and TerraPower, for example, total up to 6.6 GW by 2035, with Oklo's first phase targeted for 2030 and TerraPower's Natrium units starting no earlier than 2032 [6].
Storage as the interim fix
Batteries are the fastest-moving part of the response. On 1 July TechCrunch reported that Honda has begun producing cells for data-centre energy storage systems at its Ohio joint venture with LG Energy Solution, three months after cancelling its US EV programmes; the company recorded a $15.7 billion write-down last fiscal year, partly because of EV restructuring [7]. The stationary storage market grew 32% year on year, with 9.7 gigawatt-hours installed in the first quarter of 2026, according to the same report [7].
Storage shifts when power is used rather than adding generation, so it helps most where data centres can draw on surplus solar. It does not address the Scope 3 emissions that dominate both companies' growth, and it is itself exposed to the permitting scrutiny Wood Mackenzie describes [3].
What to watch
In our view the reports mark a shift in how hyperscalers present climate progress: annual renewable matching is holding, while hourly matching, supply-chain emissions and on-site generation are moving the wrong way. Three indicators will show whether that gap narrows. The first is how quickly contracted capacity reaches the grid, which depends partly on how the grid operators answer FERC this summer. The second is whether federal permitting reviews actually cancel projects in the Wood Mackenzie pipeline or only delay them. The third is whether Google and Amazon disclose more granular data-centre electricity figures in future reports, which would allow AI's share of the growth to be measured directly rather than inferred.
Sources
[1] Google 2026 Environmental Report — Google, undated
[2] A warning sign about AI's real cost, courtesy of Google and Amazon — TechCrunch, 2 Jul 2026
[3] Over US$121 billion in renewable investment at risk as increased federal oversight exposes 92 GW of projects to heightened permitting scrutiny — Wood Mackenzie, 29 Jun 2026
[4] Trump administration threatens 92 GW of new electricity supply with red tape — TechCrunch, 29 Jun 2026
[5] Beyond the Hype: Assessing Hyperscaler Nuclear Commitments Against U.S. Energy Realities — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2 Jun 2026
[6] Meta inks nuclear deals for up to 6.6 GW from Oklo, Vistra, TerraPower — Utility Dive, 9 Jan 2026
[7] Even Honda is pivoting to data centers — TechCrunch, 1 Jul 2026
[8] FERC Issues Section 206 Show Cause Orders Directing All Six RTOs/ISOs to Justify or Reform Large Load Integration Rules — McGuireWoods, 22 Jun 2026